Islands: Four (fine) stories by Gabriella Vittoria Romano

Already published in Italy by Kokoroko, “Islands” is a fine book elegantly written by Gabriella Vittoria Romano, a very nice italian woman living in Rome who’s now publishing “Island, four stories” in english for her international première thanks to the translation of Maria A. Stamp.

Islands is a collection of four short stories, about four women who achieve an emotional victory after suffering different kind of loss. The four women have in common the wish to transform a painful experience into some greater good. The title alludes to an emotional space, not necessarily and not at all geographic, as the four women face disconnectedness in their own personal way.

Inspired by her discovery of Buddhism, Gabriella Vittoria Romano(picture below) uses references to the elements of nature (fire, water, air, earth) to evoke the interconnectedness of all lifes as she moves the reader through a kind of “rebirth”.

Original pencil drawings accompany this ebook originally published in Italy in 2011. The famous italian writer Dacia Maraini accepted to write the preface for the italian language edition.